The Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934,
saw the wiping out of the SA's leadership and others who had angered Hitler
in the recent past in Nazi Germany. After this
date, the SS lead by Heinrich Himmler was to
become far more powerful in Nazi Germany.

For all the power the Enabling Act gave
Hitler, he still felt threatened by some in the Nazi Party. He was also worried
that the regular army had not given an oath of allegiance. Hitler knew that the
army hierarchy held him in disdain as he was 'only ' a corporal in their eyes.
The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler
the army's oath that he so needed.

By the summer of 1934, the SA's numbers had
swollen to 2 million men. They were under the control of Ernst Röhm, a loyal
follower of Hitler since the early days of the Nazi Party. The SA had given the
Nazi's an iron fist with which to disrupt other political parties meetings
before January 1933. The SA was also used to enforce law after Hitler became
Chancellor in January 1933. To all intents, they were the enforcers of the Nazi
Party and there is no evidence that Röhm was ever planning anything against
Hitler.

However, Röhm had made enemies within the
Nazi Party - Himmler, Goering and Goebbels were angered by the power he had
gained and convinced Hitler that this was a threat to his position.

By June 1934, the regular army hierarchy also
saw the SA as a threat to their authority. The SA outnumbered the army by 1934
and Röhm had openly spoken about taking over the regular army by absorbing it
into the SA. Such talk alarmed the army's leaders.

By the summer of 1934, Hitler had decided
that Röhm was a 'threat' and he made a pact with the army. If Röhm and the
other SA leaders were removed, the rank and file SA men would come under the
control of the army but the army would have to swear an oath of loyalty to
Hitler. The army agreed and Röhm's fate was sealed.

On the night of June 29th - June 30th 1934,
units of the SS arrested the leaders of the SA and other political opponents.
Men such as Gregor Strasser, von Schleicher and von Bredow were arrested and
none of them had any connection with Röhm. The arrests carried on for 2 more
nights.

Seventy seven men were executed on charges of
treason though historians tend to think the figure is higher. The SA was brought
to heel and placed under the command of the army. Hitler received an oath of
allegiance from all those who served in the army. Röhm was shot. Others were
bludgeoned to death.

The first the public officially knew about
the event was on July 13th 1934, when Hitler told the Reichstag that met in the
Kroll Opera House, Berlin, that for the duration of the arrests that he and he
alone was the judge in Germany and that the SS carried out his orders. From that
time on the SS became a feared force in Nazi Germany lead by
Heinrich Himmler.
The efficiency with which the SS had carried out its orders greatly impressed
Hitler and Himmler was to acquire huge power within Nazi Germany.

Just
before Wiessee, Hitler suddenly breaks his silence: "Kempka",
he says, "drive carefully when we come to the Hotel Hanselbauer.
You must drive up without making any noise. If you see a SA guard in
front of the hotel, don't wait for them to report to me; drive on and
stop at the hotel entrance." Then after a moment of deathly
silence: "Röhm wants to carry out a coup." An icy shiver ran
down my back. I could have believed anything, but not a coup by coup by
Röhm.

Kempka, Hitler's chauffeur.

Herr
Adolf Hitler, the German Chancellor, has saved his country. Swiftly and
with exorable severity, he has delivered Germany from men who had become
a danger to the unity of the German people and to the order of the
state. With lightening rapidity he has caused them to be removed from
high office, to be arrested, and put to death.

The names of the men who have been
shot by his orders are already known. Hitler's love of Germany has
triumphed over private friendships and fidelity to comrades who had
stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the fight for Germany's future.